“Because today is April 1, I have to assume this is an April Fool’s joke,” Bratton said, speaking to reporters at NYPD headquarters for a previously scheduled press conference about crime statistics. “There is not a single, single item in that story that is factual — not one.”

“And if the writer of that piece, Larry Celona, who is very well known to all of you, who I’ve known for over 20 years, why he allowed his name to be attached to that story, I haven’t the faintest idea. He is going to have to check out his sources because there is not a single factual item in that story,” Bratton said.

A spokesman for the Posttold Paybarah earlier today that it stands by its report of a heated exchange between Bratton and Deputy MayorAnthony Shorris following a Monday meeting. Which is another problem with the story, because according to de Blasio spokesman Peter Kadushin, such a meeting never took place yesterday.

P.S. The Twitter profile for Kadushin includes the sentence, ‘Former UFT flack, Daily News and Post hack.’ E.g., he knows whereof he denies!

[Editor’s Note: The original version of this item incorrectly referred to the Deputy Mayor as Arthur Shorris. FishbowlNY apologizes for the error.]